I See Right Through Your Mask A Naruto Story
by Dandere
Summary: A story about a girl different from the others in her village.
1. Chapter 1: I Did WHAT!

_Crunch, crunch_. You loved the sound of walking on a nice, rocky path. You suddenly knelt down on one knee, held your camera on an angle, then snapped a photo of a moss covered stone. You loved photography. You saw the beauty in things that most people didn't bother noticing. You were one of _them_. That's what the people of your village, the Hidden Tree Village, called people like you. You saw the world differently than most. And that's why they hated you. You see, the Hidden Tree Village's community wasen't as open to people like you. People who were..different. That's why you were known as the "freak" of the village. While the rest of the students at your ninja academy trained incredibly hard or were studying in advance for surprise exams, you were out taking walks in the forest, daydreaming about the most random things. Even if you weren't one of _them_, you still wouldn't fit it. You didn't exactly have a "common" personality. Like when all the students chattered away, you would sit there far away from the group just reading a book. That's why they all shunned you.

_'Alone again on my birthday_..' you thought sadly. You were used to it though. Ever since your mother died when you were eight no one had loved you. You had never even met your dad before. Your mother always mentioned good things about him and that he had to leave to protect you both. From what, you never knew. And you had never had a friend before. Some of the nicer people in the village would say 'hi' once in a while, but that was it. So you continued to walk along the rocky path, surrounded by trees. You took in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of nature. Yeah, you loved the great outdoors. Everything about nature fascinated you. You hated to be stuck in the house all day. After a few more minutes of walking you finally reached your destination, the flower meadow. You loved just laying there and watching the clouds. You would always try to find ones that looked like animals or objects. It was like a game to you. You sighed and closed your eyes with a soft smile. You could lay there for a whole week, doing nothing but watching the clouds.

After about an hour, you stood up and began walking home, humming a soft tune. When you reached the streets of the Hidden Tree Village you instantly noticed all the stares you were getting. "What a freak..", you heard one of the girls whisper. In reality, their words stung, yet you always kept a smile on your face, not wanting them to see how much it hurt you. You continued on your way home through the busy streets until you arrived at a lonely looking house with Cherry Blossom trees surrounding it. Yes, this was your home. You didn't have any siblings. It was just you alone in that empty house. You quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside, taking in the scent of cherry blossoms. You put your camera away then went up to your room and picked up one of the textbooks your academy had lent each student. You jumped onto your bed and opened the textbook to remind yourself of what you had learned that whole year. Tomorrow was the day that you would be tested to be able to pass and become a Genin.  
~*~

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!_ Your alarm clock went off and you jumped out of bed. You always woke up at around seven, so you had plenty of time to get yourself ready. You took a quick shower, put on your ninja gear, then ran down the stairs and ate a bowl of cereal with a glass of chocolate milk on the side. You didn't like having the milk _in_ the bowl with the cereal. You were a slow eater, so by the end, the cereal would always end up soggy and you hated that. And you hated regular milk. Its taste disgusted you. It was either chocolate milk or no milk at all. _Eight o'clock._ You quickly brushed your teeth then headed out and ran towards the academy.

By the time you got there, it was still pretty early so only about five students were there so far. You took your seat, middle row, right beside the window, and rested your head on one of your hands while gazing at the scenery outside. Gradually, more and more students arrived along with your sensei, Kado. "All right, everyone please quiet down while I explain what is going on today.", he began. "Before we get to the tests, I will be giving you your written tests from last week on the Hidden Villages." One by one, he handed out each of the tests from the previous week, congratulating everyone who had gotten a high grade on it and questioning the ones who had failed. "Akiko," he called in an 'are you kidding me' kind of voice. You rose from your seat to collect your test. "It seems you got every question about each village correct..except for the Hidden Tree Village. You failed each question that was about the very village that you live in." The whole class snickered.

"I DID WHAT?", you had a shocked look on your face. Even through you were quiet, you sometimes shouted out what you were thinking, without noticing. You grabbed the paper out of Kado-sensei's hand and your eyes went wide. "WHAT?", you shouted, "How did I manage to do that?" You walked back to your desk feeling embarrassed. "Are you kidding me..", you muttered to yourself.

I hope that you enjoy it so far. I know this chapter might be pretty boring since it's just the introduction about yourself, but don't worry things will get interesting soon! And by the way, this isn't a Naruto love story! :)


	2. Chapter 2: Domo Transformation!

For the rest of the morning you sat there sulking. _'Stupid stupid stupid!'_, you thought. You had completely tuned out what Kado-sensei was saying. Suddenly, everyone in the class rose from their seats and headed outside. You sat there confused for about ten seconds before realizing what was going on. You sometimes tended to have a late reaction to things. You caught up to the class and were lead outside. You turned to Katsuo Yoshimoto, "Hey, do you know what we're supposed to be doing?". Katsuo was probably the only person in the village that actually answered your questions, although he'd still try to avoid you whenever possible. 

"Kado-sensei brought us all out here to practice for the test this afternoon.", he replied, glancing at you.

"Oh! Ok, thanks Katsuo!", you replied cheerfully. You ran to an empty area where nobody was practicing_. 'Now..what would Kado-sensei make us do for the test...'_, you began to think. You thought back to all the lessons that your sensei had taught you. You decided that you would practice all the justus that Kado-sensei had spent more time explaining.

You had finished practicing every main justu that you had learned in about ten minutes. You were actually an incredibly skilled ninja. You had always had great chakra control and everytime you had been taught a new jutsu you easily managed to perfect it way before everyone else. And even though you made stupid mistakes on tests, you were extremely smart. You just tended to slack off sometimes. Truth is, you had also gone to a school that was for people who chose not to become ninja. The only reason you had went was to make sure that you had a back-up plan, just in case along the way you decided that you really didn't want to be a ninja. So basically, you were twice as packed with knowledge...but that meant that you were also twice as packed with work which really stressed and tired you out. Along the way you had made yourself a deal, if you decided that you wanted to continue on the path to becoming a ninja and one day became a Genin, you would quit that normal school and just focus on your ninja training.

You sighed. Now you were bored. You spotted a nearby tree and went towards it. You sat down and began to daydream. Daydreaming was a big occupation of yours. It was a fun way to kill some time.

~*~

Soon enough, it was time to begin the test. "All right everyone! This test determines whether or not you graduate to become a Genin.", Kado-sensei stated, "For the test you will have to do a transformation jutsu." The class looked pretty relaxed. It was just a simple jutsu that everyone had been able to perfect fairly quickly. "Now everyone please line up outside the door and I will call you in when your turn arrives." The whole class stepped out and lined up. "First up, Akiko Nakamura." You walked into the room and shut the door. "Ok Akiko, what are you going to transform into?"

Your mind went blank. 'Uhh..I didn't exactly pick anything..", you said quietly.

Kado-sensei sighed, "Then pick one now. Quickly."

_'Crap! What should I transform into?'_, you thought frantically. You said the first thing that came to your mind, "Domo."

Kado-sensei raised one of his eyebrows, "...what?"

"I'm going to transform into Domo.", you stated. You quickly did your hand signs and transformed into a life size Domo.

Kado-sensei looked at your Domo transformation like you were crazy until you changed back. "Umm..all right...you pass?" He handed you a headband with your village symbol on it and you walked out of the room. 

As soon as you were out of the room Kado sighed, _"_I swear, that is the strangest thing I've ever seen anyone choose to transform into.." 

I hope you enjoyed reading chapter 2! I'll try my best to post a new chapter up every weekend if I can. I know, it's still pretty boring, right? Don't worry, it'll get better really soon!


	3. Chapter 3: First Conversation

"Oh, this is just great. She passed too.", you heard your class whispering as soon as they had seen you come out with a headband. '_Ouch_.' You felt the glares of the many students still awaiting their turn. Nevertheless, you continued smiling.

"Good job Akiko.", you heard Katsuo say in a low voice. You're eyes widened slightly but you kept walking until you were outside, pretending not to have heard. You soon arrived home and went straight inside. You hated the fact that you had to celebrate this moment alone but you made the best of it. You walked into your kitchen and made yourself some sushi. Sushi was your absolute favourite food so it made the perfect celebration meal. "Mmm..", you said, digging in and quickly finishing all of it. You walked up to your room and pulled out your drawing pad and began drawing different scenes such as a random man walking in the market. You sighed, soon getting tired of drawing. You stared blankly at your wall until deciding to train.

~*~

You walked into class the next day feeling incredibly sore. You had trained for at least four hours nonstop. On the plus side, you had taught yourself a new quick sand jutsu. You looked around, only to see that everyone had passed yesterday's test. You looked out the window and stared at a mother bird feeding her baby. A feeling a sadness washed over you as you remembered the way your mother used to care for you. You were so focused on your flashbacks that you didn't notice someone sit down next to you. "Is it true that you transformed into a life size Domo yesterday?"

"Oh!", you jumped a bit, now noticing the presence beside you. Presence beside you? No one ever sat beside you. You turned and saw Katsuo. You stared at him in shock for a while before replying, "Umm..yeah, why?"

"I heard Kado-sensei telling the other senseis about it.", he replied.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Good morning class!", Kado-sensei walked in, unfortunately ending your conversation. It was the closest thing to a conversation that you had had in years! "Firstly, I would like to congratulate all of you for passing the Genin exam. I know that you have all worked very hard to get to where you are today and I'm very proud of all of you. Today I will be assigning you your squads which are made up of three members. You will be stuck with these members for quite a while so I suggest that you get to know and trust them."

"Aww! But what if we get stuck with someone we hate?", a boy in the class shouted out. Everyone glanced at you for a quick second before refocusing on Kado-sensei.

"Not my problem.", Kado-sensei answered, "I organized you into equally balanced groups based on your strengths and weaknesses. All right, squad one will be.."

You zoned out, not exactly caring who was on anyone elses squad except your own. "Squad five will be Akiko Nakamura.." This brought you back to reality, "..Katsuo Yoshimoto, and Hiroshi Inoue." The corners of your mouth turned into a content smile. You were satisfied with your squad. You and Katsuo were sort of friends..in a way. You had never talked to Hiroshi before but he seemed like a nice guy. "Now, after lunch you will be meeting your new senseis."

You were walking towards your usual spot under a tree outside where you ate your lunch. You unpacked your rice balls and began eating. "So, I heard that you dropped out of that non-ninja school thing."

"Yeah. Now that I'm a Genin I need to focus more on my training if I want to be successful.", you replied. You already knew that it was Katsuo just by listening to the voice. You were still clueless to why he was talking to you.

"I see..", he responded.

"See what?"

"Nevermind." 

"So, um..", he started, "What kind of stuff did they teach you in that other school..?"

"They covered all of the stuff that we learn here but they have a lot of other subjects too and they explain everything in greater detail."

"Sounds like a lot of work."

"Believe me. It was."

You saw a group of students heading back inside signalling the end of lunch. "We should head back inside now before we're late.", you said as you stood up. Katsuo stood up too and followed you back in. You could tell that he wanted to talk some more. When you arrived in the classroom Kado-sensei gave you a scrap of paper with the room that you would meet your new sensei in. '_Room 103.._'

When the two of you arrived you saw that Hiroshi was already seated in one of the desks. You sat cross legged on top the desk next to him and Katsuo sat in the seat next to it. You all sat in silence, waiting to finally meet your sensei.

Five minutes passed and there was still no sign of your sensei. You sighed. "Glad to see you all waiting patiently." All three of you gasped and turned around. "My name is Kenta Iwatani and I am your new sensei."

~*~

I hope you enjoyed it! I think it's getting a bit more interesting. Please rate and message me if you can to tell me how I'm doing so far. Critism is always welcome. :D


	4. Chapter 4: It's a Pine Tree, You Idiot!

You turned around to see a tall man with medium lengthed spiky black hair, light grey eyes, and very pale skin. The three of you continued to stare at your new sensei in astonishment. It was silent for a few more minutes and it was starting to feel kind of awkward so you decided to break the silence, "So...what now?"

Kenta-sensei looked like he was at a loss for words, "Well..um..why don't you all introduce yourselves..?" Still, the room remained silent. Kenta-sensei sighed, "Ok, I'll go first.", he rolled his eyes, "Like I mentioned before, my name is Kenta Iwatani but you're all going to call me Kenta-sensei. For my hobbies, I..", he groaned, not wanting to explain anymore, "Yeah, you get it. Ok, you with the black hair and glasses. Introduce yourself." He pointed to Katsuo.

"My name is Katsuo Yoshimoto. My hobbies are collecting information and studying. I like learning new things and figuring out problems. I only have one dislike, which is not knowing something that I'm asked. And as for my goals, I plan to become one of those ninja who are sent undercover to retrieve information.", he spoke in an intellectual voice.

"All right. Next, you with the silver hair and orange eyes.", Kenta-sensei stated.

"Name's Hiroshi Inoue. For my hobbies, I just hang out wherever. I like anything that doesn't bug me. I dislike things bothering me. And for my goals, I haven't really thought about it." He said all that with a bored monotone voice.

"And you..", Kenta-sensei said looking at me.

"Well, I'm Akiko Nakamura. My hobbies are drawing, daydreaming, reading, taking photography, singing, and exploring. I like animals, the outdoors, and a lot of other things. I strongly dislike spiders and some bugs. And for my goals for the future, I plan to become the best female shinobi.", you explained cheerfully.

You barely noticed Kenta-sensei raise an eyebrow when he listened to your goal but you dismissed it, not really caring what he thought about it. "I think we all got to know each other pretty well. Meet me tomorrow by the giant pine tree in the middle of the forest tomorrow.", Kenta-sensei stated before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. "You didn't even bother introducing yourself. You basically only told us your name.", you mumbled after him. The three of you then separated on you own ways home.

~*~ 

The next day, the three of you arrived at the forest entrance at the same time. "Shall we?", Katsuo said before following both you and Hiroshi into the deep forest. "So we need to find the center of the forest. I think if we just keep walking straight we'll eventually reach the middle."

"Sounds like a plan.", Hiroshi stated.

~*~ 

"It's been two hours and I swear we passed that same tree at least ten times.", you said with a scowl on your face.

"I don't get! We walked straight the whole time!", Katsuo said, cleary frustrated.

"Yeah, we walked straight in circles.", you muttered. 

Hiroshi groaned, "Let's just keep going. Just look for a huge oak tree or whatever."

"_Pine_. Kenta-sensei said _pine_. Pay attention to that kind of stuff, you idiot!", Katsuo retorted.

"What's the difference?", Hiroshi asked lazily.

You sighed, "Pine trees are the ones with those needle leaf things."

Hiroshi's eyes widened slightly, "Why didn't you say so? There's a big one right there."

Katsuo sweat-dropped, "We passed by it ten times and you knew exactly where it was..yet you didn't even know what kind of tree it was.."

Hiroshi shrugged. You all walked to the big pine tree. "Finally! I was starting to think that you would never find it!", you looked up to see Kenta-sensei jump from a branch on the tree and land on the ground infront of you without a sound. He sighed, "You guys have terrible teamwork skills. You should have discussed what to look for before you went looking. It would've saved you two hours of walking." You groaned and dropped to the ground. Kenta-sensei smirked, "Get up, it's time to train."

"But we just walked for two hours straight!", you protested. 

"It's not my fault that you didn't work as a team to find this tree.", he replied.

You stood up, "So what are we going to learn or whatever?"

"This.", he started to walk up the side of the big pine tree, "You're all going to walk up this tree."

"How do you expect us to do that?", you exclaimed.

"It's quite simple actually.", Kenta-sensei began to explain, "It's all about chakra control. Focus your chakra to both your feet and just begin to walk up the tree." You all just stared at him. "Well? Start!"  
_  
'Sounds pretty easy.'_ You focused all of your chakra to your feet and charged at the pine tree. _Smack!_ You collided right into the tree. "Owwie!", you complained. 

They all snickered at you, "Akiko, you know you're supposed to run _up_ the tree, right?"

I hope you enjoyed reading chapter four! Still no Naruto, right? Don't worry, he'll probably be in the story two chapters from now or something like that. Please message me about how I'm doing so far! Critism is always welcome!


	5. Chapter 5: You Entered Us In?

You huffed. For the past ten minutes you unfortunately hadn't been successful in walking up the side of the tree. You glanced at Katsuo and Hiroshi who also still hadn't accomplished the task. _'There's got to be some kind of trick to this.'_, you thought, _'There are tricks to everything..'_ Suddenly, an idea formed in your mind. You took a breath to focus and then charged at the tree. You focused your chakra to your feet and then started up the tree, transferring half of the chakra in both your feet to the pine tree as you made your way up. You began to slow down when you realized that you had gotten the hang of it until you were just walking on the side of the tree. You looked down to see your team members and sensei all staring up at you in shock. You smiled and did the peace sign with your fingers, "Kenta-sensei, did I do it properly?" Kenta-sensei was still unable to speak. You smirked and descended down the tree.

"You are the only person that I know of who was actually able to learn this skill in less than twenty minutes.", Kenta-sensei finally spoke.

Your eyes widened, "Really?" 

"Akiko, you have amazing chakra control.", he responded. 

"How did you do that?", Katsuo asked.

"Well, all you pretty much have to do is focus your chakra to your feet and then transfer some of it to the tree.", you replied. 

Katsuo and Hiroshi started at it again. "Akiko, why don't you head home now and take it easy, seeing as how you have already grasped the technique. Just meet me here again tomorrow.", Kenta-sensei stated.

"All right.", you smiled then started walking out of the forest. 

Fortunately, you made it out of the forest without getting lost again. You started to hum a random tune. On the way home you received the glares of all your old classmates and their parents but you really couldn't care less. Actually, you were too happy to even notice. You arrived at the front of your house and were about to go in when you remembered that you had two cherry blossoms trees. You glanced at them before going up to one of them and then walking up the tree. You grinned then walked back down and went inside. You looked in the mirror and noticed that your eyes had turned light brown, signifying that you were content. For the rest of the evening you spent your time reading books about chakra control.

The next day, you started your way into the forest alone. You reached the big pine tree fairly quickly, now knowing where it was. _'I think I'm early..'_ You sat down and began to wait.

~*~ 

You began to get frustrated. _'It's been an hour!'_, you angrily thought. "..Akiko?", Katsuo's voice pulled you out of your thoughts, "How long have you been here?"

"Just an hour..", you growled.

"It's good to see you all here.", Kenta-sensei jumped down from the pine tree. 

Your eyes narrowed, "Sensei, how long have you been up there?"

"About an hour.", he replied.

"And the thought didn't occur to you that I was freakin' bored?", you shouted.

"I wanted to see how long you would wait.", Kenta-sensei scratched the back of his head, "But anyways, I have something important to tell you. This year the Hidden Tree Village has the chance to enter the chunin exams in the Hidden Leaf Village."

Katsuo's eyes widened, "But I thought our village was banned from entering because of the trouble we caused years ago."

"That is true, but we received a letter from their village last week allowing us to enter again. So, I took the chance and signed you all up for it.", Kenta-sensei looked proud of himself.

"Isn't it our choice?", Hiroshi questioned.

"Uhh, yeah.. but I thought that you'd all want to go..", he answered looking sheepish. 

You all looked at him with an 'are you kidding me' kind of look.

He suddenly got serious, "I truly believe that you are all strong, capable genin that will be able to handle a challenge like this. I know it's too soon since you just got assigned to your squads two days ago, but I trust that you all could do very well in this." And with that he handed you all the forms.

I hope you all liked chapter 5! Please rate and send me messages on how I'm doing! Critism is always welcome and appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6: Arrival

You headed out the gates of the Hidden Tree Village to start on your way to the Hidden Leaf Village. "How long will it take for us to get there?", you asked.

"It'll take about two days. Our villages are actually closer to each other than you'd think.", Kenta-sensei replied.

~*~ 

The past two days went pretty smoothly. The weather was nice and warm and it didn't rain. And both nights when you slept, it was quiet and peaceful. Plus, your squad didn't run into any enemies so you were able to arrive earlier in the day rather than the expected time. As you arrived at the front gate, you all stopped and stared at the Hidden Leaf Village. It wasen't anything like the Hidden Tree Village. The Hidden Leaf Village seemed brighter since they didn't have as many trees blocking the sun and it seemed more welcoming. As soon as the three of you regained your senses, you followed your sensei through the gates and into the village. "Wow! It's way bigger than our village!", you gasped.

Katsuo nodded, "Sensei, what do we do now?"

"Well, first things first. We have to hand in your forms so that you will be officially registered to enter the exams.", he responded. 

You all followed Kenta-sensei into a building and then arrived infront of a table. "Excuse me, we're here to register for the chunin exams.", he said while handing the forms to one of the two men.

"Yes. One moment please.", the man responded, checking through the forms, "Please initial your names here please."

He handed each one of you a pen to initial the form. You looked at Hiroshi's form and suddenly realized something. "Oh my gosh! How could I not have realized this before?", you said in excitement and shock.

"What? What is it?", they all said in unison.

You pointed at Hiroshi's paper, "Hiroshi! Your initials..they spelled 'HI'!" 

They all sweatdropped.

~*~

"So what now?", Hiroshi said with both his hands behind his head.

"Do whatever you want. Just be here tomorrow at 9:00am.", Kenta-sensei replied then poofed away.

"Ok. See you guys later. I'm going to go explore.", you stated while walking away.

You walked around for about an hour before deciding to take a break and sit on a bench. The Hidden Leaf Village truly amazed you. The foods were different, the people were kinder, and it looked more beautiful. You closed your eyes for a moment before quickly opening them after hearing someone's footsteps. You turned your head to see a boy about your age with black hair, black eyes, and a pale complexion. He was actually kind of attractive.._'Whatever.'_, you thought. As he passed by you, you noticed him glance at you for a while before turning away. You then stood up and walked in the opposite direction in search of Katsuo and Hiroshi.

~*~

I hope you liked chapter 6! Sorry I know it's short.


	7. Chapter 7: You Find Us Now?

You had been walking for quite a while now. _'Where are they'_,you thought.

"Konohamaru!", you heard a girl shout scaredly. You heard a lot of voices and soon curiosity got the best of you. You quietly walked in the direction of the where the voices were coming from. You soon saw from a distance about nine people. You were too far away to see what was going on, so you quietly kept on walking, trying not to be noticed. When you were close enough, you finally realized that all the commotion was because one of the older people was dangling another in the air by holding onto the front of his shirt. _'Why are they just standing there?'_, you thought confusedly. 

"PUT HIM DOWN!", you heard a boy with an orange jumpsuit and spiky blond hair yell angrily. He charged at the older boy. All of a sudden, a stone came flying across, almost too fast to see, and hit the older boy's hand, causing him to drop the younger one.

"SASUKE!", you heard one of the girls shriek in admiration. You looked up and saw that same boy that you had seen earlier. _'So his name's Sasuke..'_ He suddenly crushed another stone that was in his hand into dust and every girl looked at him with hearts in their eyes. You rolled your eyes._ 'It's not that hard to crush a stupid rock.'_ The older boy looked mad. He slowly took off some mummy object that he was carrying on his back. The older girl beside him looked worried and tried talking him out of it until realizing that it was no use and just gave up.

"Kankuro, back off.", an emotionless voice then said. You turned and gasped as you saw another boy with red hair standing upside down on the same tree that Sasuke was on. _'How did I not notice him arrive?'_, you thought, astonished. They all gasped and looked with shock at the boy.

"Ah, sorry Gaara!", the older boy whose name you assumed was Kankuro replied.

After a couple seconds, you noticed something that you hadn't even realized was there until now. _'KATSUO AND HIROSHI ARE RIGHT THERE AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE!'_ You mentally yelled at yourself for not paying attention. Katsuo and Hiroshi were there during that whole scene next to that older girl and you had been too focused on the main event to even notice it. You fast-walked towards them.

"OH MY GOSH KATSUO AND HIROSHI! I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE YOU THERE!", you shouted excitedly. 

The girl with pink hair infront of you jumped. The rest of them all gasped as they noticed your presence.

"I was looking for you guys _everywhere_!", you grinned.

Katsuo and Hiroshi sweatdropped in embarrassment, "Umm, Akiko, I don't think now was a good time to interrupt.."

~*~

I hope that you all enjoyed reading chapter 7! Please review to let me know how I'm doing so far! Critism is always welcome!


	8. Chapter 8: Meeting New People

You looked around to notice everyone staring at you like you were crazy. You scratched the back of your head, "Ohh.."

Katsuo and Hiroshi sighed. 

"I couldn't help it! I was way over there", you explained while pointing in the direction that you just came from, "and I was just watching for a while until I realized that it was you two, so I got really excited since I didn't notice until now." 

Everyones eyes widened.

"Wait, you were there the_ whole _time?", the girl with pink hair asked, shocked. 

"Uhh, yeah. I just mentioned that, didn't I?", you replied as if it was so obvious.

_'How did no one notice her? Including me!', _Sasuke thought, slightly annoyed with himself for not noticing.

It was silent for a few seconds.

"I'm going to get something to eat.", you mumbled. You couldn't stand awkward silences. They made you feel.._awkward.  
_

"Hey! Wait!", you heard a voice call out to you.

You stopped walking and turned your head so that only the left side of your face was visible and saw that it was Sasuke, "Yeah?" 

"Who are you?", he asked.

"Akiko Nakamura of the Hidden Tree Village.", you replied smoothly, "And you?"

"Sasuke Uchiha of the Hidden Leaf Village.", he said, smirking.

_'An Uchiha, huh?'_, you thought.

"Nice to meet you Sasuke.", you said before turning your head and walking away. 

__

Ruuuumble! You pouted as your stomach growled for the hundredth time. 'Don't they have anywhere good to eat?'

"Hmm, Ichiraku's Ramen..", you read, "Sounds good."

You took a seat and was greeted by a friendly old man.

"Hi, how may I help you?", he asked. 

"Umm, can I have the seafood ramen please?", you asked.

"Coming right up!", he said before going to the kitchen to start on your meal.

You smiled contently.

_Sluuuurp!_ You turned quickly to see the boy with blond hair that you had seen earlier today. You quickly looked away.

"All right, one seafood ramen!", the old man placed your food infront of you.

"Thank you!", you said.

You slurped some into your mouth.

"Oh my gosh!", you said slightly loud.

"What? What is it?", the man said alarmed.

"This is delicious!", you stated, eating some more.

The old man laughed, "Why thank you young lady!" 

You finished the bowl in less than five minutes.

You rubbed your stomach, "That hits the spot!"

"Tell me about it!", the boy beside you agreed. 

You turned and smiled. You didn't how to respond to that.

He tilted his head slighty, "Hey, you're that girl from earlier, right?" 

"Yup!", you replied.

"Wow! You got everyone freaking out after you left!", he started, "Everybody started to talk about how they didn't notice you way back there!" 

You laughed, "Seriously?" 

"Yeah! Especially Sasuke! He was so mad at himself!", the boy laughed, "So how did you do it?" 

"Hide my chakra?", you asked. 

"Yeah!"

"I'm not sure, actually. It's like it hides itself.", you answered.

"Lucky. I wish I could do that! I'd scare everybody the way that you did.", he pouted.

You giggled. You then noticed that it was starting to get a bit dark. 

"It's starting to get late now.", you sighed, "I have to go." You got up to go but then stopped for a second, "What's your name?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

~*~

I hope you liked chapter 8! If you have any suggestions, please tell me!


	9. Chapter 9: Entrance

'_Naruto Uzumaki, huh?'_, you thought while lying on the bed in the hotel that you were staying in. '_There's something about him that's just so different from everyone else.'_  
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You glanced around the dark room. _'Katsuo and Hiroshi still aren't back yet..'_  
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_Creek._  
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You froze. You glanced around the room nervously then hid under the covers. After about five minutes you slowly peeked over them and saw a shadow leaning against the wall near the door.

The shadow turned the light on and you gasped as you realized that it was only Hiroshi.

"What the heck?", you glared.

"Sorry, I wanted to see how long you would wait under there.", he chuckled before walking away.

"Ugh!", you huffed before going back under the covers and falling asleep.

=Next Day=

"Woohoo!", you cheered.

Today was going to be the day of the first chunin exams and you were extremely excited.

"I wonder what the tests are going to be like!", you wondered.

"I heard that the first one is a written exam.", Katsuo responded.

"Aww man. Do you think spelling counts?", Hiroshi replied.

Katsuo rolled his eyes and walked ahead.

The three of you opened the door to the first exam and silently gasped.

You gulped.

All the people in room were huge and scary-looking. You had never imagined the exams to be like this. All these people looked like they could snap you in half just by looking at you.

The three of you noticed how everyone was looking at you.

"Probably surprised to actually see people from the Hidden Tree Village.", Katsuo muttered so that only you and Hiroshi could hear.

Over to your right, you noticed a group of the Hidden Leaf Village genin. You looked closely and then spotted Naruto.

You continued to glance around until suddenly an explosion of smoke appeared in the front of the room. When the smoke cleared you saw a man with two scars across his face, infront of a group of people behind him.

"It's time to begin.", he started, "I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor and from this moment, your worst enemy."

You heard many people gasp.

He quickly lectured a few of the Sound genin for something that you didn't know since your team had been the last to arrive.

"Hand over your paperwork and in return you will each be getting a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you are all seated."

You noticed Naruto freaking out on the sidelines.

You suppressed a giggle.

I hope that you enjoyed reading chapter 9!


	10. Chapter 10: First Exam

'_Written test, huh? Sounds pretty easy._', you thought with a shrug. You, Katsuo, and Hiroshi went up to the front and handed over your papers.

"I got number seventeen!", you told them cheerfully. Seventeen was your favourite number after all.

"I got seat number twenty one.", Hiroshi replied.

Katsuo looked disappointed, "I got forty four."

"We better get to our seats now. Good luck with the test guys!", you said.

'_Seat seventeen, seat seventeen, where is it? Oh, there it is!'_, you thought before taking your seat. You sighed, '_What if the test is too hard?'_, all of your worries suddenly surfaced and you mentally freaked out. You didn't even notice that someone familiar had taken a seat next to you. 

"Umm..are you ok?", the person beside you asked.

You jumped a bit and turned to see the one and only Sasuke Uchiha, "Huh? When did you get there?"

"Five minutes ago.", he replied.

"Hmm, I didn't notice you there."

"You still didn't answer my question.", he responded.

"What question?"

He closed his eyes and sighed, "Are you ok?"

You looked at him confused, "Uhh..yeah. Why?" 

"When I sat down, you were just staring at this table for five minutes."

"Nice to know.", you commented.

Ibiki suddenly tapped the chalkboard with a piece of chalk which got everyone's attention.

"Everyone, eyes front.", he started, "There are a few rules you need to be aware of and I won't answer any questions the first time around." He tapped the board again. "All right, rule number one is this, the written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system contrary to what some of you may be used to. You all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong, so if you miss three, your final score will be seven. 

"Rule number two. Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all three members."

"What? Huh? Are you kidding me?", is what everyone responded with.

"Rule number three. The sentinals you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any kinds of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprits score. Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp, and if they catch you five times you'll be dimissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinals does not deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be."

'_All right. Pretty straight forward.'  
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"One more thing. If any candidate should get a zero and fail the test, then the entire team fails."

'_Wait a second! Is Hiroshi smart?' _You looked back at where Katsuo was and you could tell that you were both thinking the same thing.

"The final question won't be given out until fifteen minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total."

_Tick. Tock. Tick._

"Begin!"

You heard everyone flip over their tests and pick up their pencils.

'_Question number one..decipher a code..'_ You scanned the question over. '_Hmm..pretty easy.'_

You easily finished the first question within five minutes. '_Ok, next question..easy!' _  
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It continued that way until you reached question four. '_Shoot. I can't get the rest of them..'_  
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_=Ten Minutes Later=

'_Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!'_, you thought, '_What do I do now?'_  
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It had been ten minutes and you still couldn't figure out the rest of them.

You inwardly gasped. '_That's it!'_, you finally realized it, '

_They want us to cheat!'  
_

You smirked. '_Soul Releaser!'_ That was one of your bloodline jutsus. It allowed half of your soul to exit your body without being seen and allowed you to see both places at the same time. The only problem about using it was if you were to get attacked you'd only have half of your strength since the other half was somewhere else. 

The other half of you silently walked around the room until it finally found that the person infront of Naruto had all the answers.

_'Perfect..'_, You began copying down the rest of the answers. Once you had finished the other half of you walked towards Katsuo but noticed that he was doing fine and went to Hiroshi instead.

'_Are you kidding me?'_, you thought, '_He didn't even get one of them.'_  
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Your other half guided his hand and began filling in the answers. He was a little shocked at first until he realized what was happening and relaxed. Once you had finished your other half returned to your body. You hadn't wasted very much chakra so you were fine. That was another good thing about that jutsu; it didn't waste very much chakra.

~*~

I hope that you enjoyed chapter 10! I tried to make it longer this time. Please review!


	11. Chapter 11: Tenth Question

"All right!", Ibiki started, "Listen up! Here's the tenth and final question!"

_'Finally!'_, you thought. It had been five minutes since you had gotten all of the answers down and you didn't know what to do now that you were done.

"But before I give you the question there are some more rules that you have to be aware of.", Ibiki said as Kankuro walked in, "These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you." It was silent for a moment before he continued, "Very well then rule number one, each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

"Whoa! So what's the catch? Let's say we don't want to do it, what happens then?", the girl you saw yesterday bursted.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your other answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words, you fail. And that means of course both your team mates fail as well."

The whole room was filled with people saying, "Huh?" or "What?"

"Not so fast. You didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail, you will be barred from taking the chunin exams ever again!"

"WHAT?", you shouted.

Ibiki chuckled, "I guess you're just unlucky. I wasen't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. If you're not confident enough, you can come back next year. Now then if you're ready, the tenth and final question, those who don't want to take it, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go."

It was silent for awhile until finally a boy raised his hand and he and his team left. After that, quickly one by one several others raised their hands too.

'_There's nothing really for us to worry about. Even if the question is really hard, as long as me or Katsuo get it I can pass it on to Hiroshi like last time. But then again..what if we don't get the answer..' _, you thought,

Out of the corner of your eye you saw Naruto shakily raise up his hand. Everyone stared at him for a few seconds before he slammed his hand on his table.

"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't going to scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life!", Naruto stood up, "I'll still be hokage someday!" He sat back down and folded his arms across his chest.

You couldn't help but smile.

"This is a decision that could change your life. If for any reason you'd rather quit, now's your last chance.", Ibiki spoke.

It was as if Naruto somehow planted courage in everyone since nobody raised up their hand. 

"Well then, I admire your determination if nothing else. For those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do and that's for me to tell you that you've all passed the first exam!", Ibiki concluded.

A look a shock was on everyone's faces.

"Hold on a second! What about the tenth question?", Sakura shouted.

Ibiki laughed, "There never was a tenth question. Not a written one at least. Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."

"Wait, what?", Hiroshi said confusedly, "So I wasted my time working on the other nine questions?"

'_You didn't even get one of them until I wrote them all down for you, you liar!',_ you inwardly screamed. 

"No, no, not at all! Quite the opposite, the first nine questions had an important overwriting purpose, to test your ability to get information in the toughest circumstances.", he responded, "Let me explain." He went on to say how the test was about team work and how not to cheat clumsily. "..so I disguised two chunin who already knew and had them sit in with you." He pointed to one of the guys infront of Naruto.

'_Knew it.'_, you smirked.

Ibiki then undid his bandana to uncover huge scars which left everyone with shocked expressions. He continued to explain until something burst through the window.

~*~

Thanks for reading. I know this chapter was kind of boring. Sorry I got lazy. xD


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